Strip feeding mechanism



March 6, 1962 D. c. PAQUAY STRIP FEEDING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 29, 1958 Ht H t It. i

March 6, 1962 D. c. PAQUAY 3,023,976

STRIP FEEDING MECHANISM Filed 00t- 29, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 72 67 6 fl. Y Y\ INVENTOR. DAV/0 C. PAouAY Arroewe 5 3,023,976 STRIP FEEDING MECHANISM David C. Pao uay, Cleveland, ()hio, assignor to Frank A. Brandes, Sr., Shaker Heights, Ohio Filed Oct. 29, 1958, Ser. No. 779,491 2 Uaims. (Cl. 242-7542) The present invention relates to metal working and more particularly to the high speed continuous production of articles from metal strip in coil form.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of a novel and new method of and apparatus for producing metal articles by an operation or operations performed intermittently at a working station having relative movable dies therein and through which station metal in strip form is intermittently fed in timed relation to the working operation or operations from a relatively large, heavy coil of material located relatively close to the working station so as to conserve floor space, etc.

Aother object of the invention is the provision of a novel and improved method and apparatus of the character referred to above wherein the strip is moved through the working station by means comprising intermittently operated feed mechanism located immediately adjacent to the working station and continuously operated feed mechanism located in advance of the intermittent feed mechanism, and which advances the material continuously to the intermittent feed mechanism but at a variable rate and in such a manner as to maintain a relatively short loop or small amount of slack between the two feed mechanisms.

The invention resides in certain steps of operation and novel features of construction, combinations and arrangement of parts, and further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which it pertains from the following description of the present preferred embodiment thereof described with reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, wherein the same reference characters represent corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of a metal working apparatus embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary plan view with portions broken away of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1; and,

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view approximately on the line 33 of FIG. 2.

Although the preferred embodiment of the invention shown is herein described in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the construction and arrangement of the parts shown and described, but is capable of being otherwise embodied and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. It is also to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, and that there is no intention to limit the invention beyond the requirements of the prior art.

The apparatus shown in the drawings comprises a working station having therein a punch adapted to be intermittently moved at high speed toward and from a die 11 to thereby produce articles from the leading end of a strip of metal A, unwound from a coil B, as it is advanced step by step through the working station in timed relation to the opening and closing of the dies by intermittently operated mechanism including the feed rolls 12, 13 located immediately adjacent to the working station. The punch 10 and die 11 are preferably of the so-called progressive die type and may perform blanking, drawing, coining, or other operations or any combination thereof. These operations are hereinafter collectively referred to as dieing operations.

grates 7 atent The mechanism shown for supporting and/or moving the punch and die and designated generally as C, is similar to that shown in United States Patent, No. 2,539,807, issued January 30, 1951, as are the feed rolls 12, 13 and the mechanism for operating them. This mechanism is not, therefore, herein shown and described in detail. Suffice to say that it is supported upon a base D, is power driven and may be operated continuously by depressing the pedal 14 and locking it in depressed position by depressing the pedal 15. It is to be understood, however, that other suitable apparatus may be employed.

The coil B of material from which the articles are formed is supported closely adjacent to the working station at the opposite end of the base D upon a power driven endless belt-type cradle E. From the coil B, the strip A passes through a suitable set of driven straightening rolls designated generally by the reference character F, a pair of feed rolls 16, 17, which are continuously driven at a controlled variable speed, and thence to the rolls 12, 13 located immediately adjacent to the dies 10, 11 and which rolls are intermittently operated in timed relation to the movement of the punch 10.

The endless belt E is located between a pair of adjustable guide plates 20 axially spaced from each other in side-by-side relationship and adapted to have the distance therebetween adjusted by means of a hand crank or wheel 21 to accommodate rolls of stock of different width. After a coil of material has been lowered onto the endless belt E, the crank 21 can be rotated until the guide plates 20 are adjacent to the edges of coil therebetween.

A central speed drive unit, including a suitable electric motor M and an infinite variable speed transmission T is provided for driving the conveyor belt E, the straightening rolls F and the feed rolls 16, 17. The output or driving shaft 21 of the transmission T is connected in a suitable manner as by a sprocket chain drive 22 to a shaft 23 which shaft is in turn connected to and drives the straightening rolls F and the feed rolls 16, 17 by a sprocket chain drive 24, and the endless conveyor E by a sprocket chain drive 25.

For the purpose of assisting in the loading of the coil B, an air cylinder 30 is provided adjacent to the left-hand end of the belt E. The piston rod 31 of the air motor or cylinder carries a shoe device 32 on the free end thereof for engaging the coil of material B just to the left of the belt E. A pipe 33 is representative of an air supply leading from a source of compressed air. This pipe is connected to a pipe 34 terminating in the air cylinder 30 through an air line oiler 35, a pressure regulator mechanism 36, an oil filter 37 and a threeway valve mechanism 38. It will be understood that by use of the three-way valve control 38, the shoe 32 can be moved towards or from the coil C of material being fed.

The motor M is of the constant speed type and is continuously rotated. The speed at which the strip A of material is uncolied from the coil B and advanced by the rolls in, 17, is regulated by the continuous drive variable speed transmission T, the speed of the output shaft 21 of which is, in the embodiment shown, a function of the angular position of a control disk or wheel 39 fixed to the upper end of a shaft projecting through the top of the transmission housing which in turn is controlled by the vertical position of a hardwood roller 49 carried upon a free end of lever arm 41. The other end of the lever 41 projects through a vertical slot in the front wall 42 of the housing H within which the endless belt E, the straightening and the feed rolls F, 16 and 17, etc. are housed. The right-hand end of the arm 41, see FIG. 2, is fixed to a member 43 keyed to a transversely extending and generally horizontal shaft 44 journaled in suitable bearing members in the vertical side walls 45 and 46 of a housing H. Hardwood roller 40 rides upon loop 47 formed by sheet metal strip A between the intermittently driven feed rolls 12, 13, and the continuously driven feed rolls 16, 17 and indicates the length of the loop.

The upper or far end of the shaft 44, as viewed in FIG. 2, is rotatably supported in a bearing member in the far side Wall 46 of the housing H and the near or lower end is rotatably supported by suitable bushings within a tubular member which extends over approximately the lower or near half of the shaft 44. The tubular member 50 is rot-atably supported in a suitable bearing in the near sidewall 45 of the housing H and its upper or far end abuts a collar 51' fixedly secured to the shaft 44. The lower or near end of the shaft 44 is threaded and projects beyond the tubular member 50 Where it is provided with a jam nut 52. Both the nut 52 and the projecting end of the tubular member 50 are provided with hand grasps 53, 54, respectively, by virtue of which the tubular member 50 can be jammed between the collar 51 and the nut 52 to lock the shaft 44 and the tubular member 59 in any selected angular position.

The upper or rear end of the tubular member 50 is provided with a downwardly projecting lever 55 keyed thereto, the lower end of which lever is connected by a lost motion mechanism designated generally as L, to an upwardly or rearwardly projecting lever 56 fixed to the control disk 39 of the variable speed transmission T connected to the upper end of a control shaft projecting upwardly through the housing of the transmission.

The lost motion device L serves to connect the lever 55 with the variable speed transmission drive unit T while permitting a preselected or determined movement of the lever without changing the adjustment or setting of the drive. The variable speed transmission T is not shown in detail since it can be of any suitable construction. It is, however, preferably of the type which requires a predetermined torque to rotate or move the control disk or wheel 39. The lost motion mechanism L comprises a spring housing 62 having an elongated cylindrical bore 63 formed therein for housing a pair of spiral springs 64, 65 on opposite sides of a piston 66, slidably supported in the bore 63 and provided with a connecting rod 67 projecting outwardly of the housing 62 through a spring retainer 70, threaded into the open left-hand end of housing 62. The projecting end of the rod 67 is adjustably threaded into a yoke or fork member 71 and secured thereto in any adjusted position with a locking nut 72.

The closed right-hand end of the member 62, as viewed in FIG. 3, is provided with a threaded aperture into which one end of a rod 75 is threaded. The other end of the rod 75 is connected by a ball and socket connection, designated generally as 76, to the upwardly projecting free end of the lever 56, previously referred to.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the belt E which carries the coil B will be continuously driven in a counter-clockwise direction by the motor M through the variable speed transmission T, and that the straightening rolls F and the feed rolls 16, 17 will be continuously driven in timed relation thereto at predetermined speeds. It will also be apparent that the speed or speeds is automatically controlled, at least within predetermined limits, by the angular position of the lever arm 41 in accordance with the rate at which the material A is moved by the feed rolls 12, 13 through the working station. The speed range within which the automatic control is effected can be varied or adjusted as in setting up the apparatus to take care of any requirements of the intermittent feed mechanism, etc., by changing the relative angular positions of the tube 59 to the shaft 44. If the length of the loop 47 is increased or decreased beyond predetermined limits the roller 40 will indicate the change in the length of the loop and the apparatus will be stopped by the actuation of microswitches 80 or 81 within the housing H by cams 82 or 83, respectively, fixed to the shaft 44. It

can be seen, therefore, that if the length of the loop is increased or decreased beyond a predetermined limit for any reason, the apparatus will be stopped and the feed of the strip will thus be stopped. For example, if an improper variation occurs in the relative rate of speed between the continuous strip advancing mechanism and the intermittent strip advancing mechanism the loop 47 will lengthen or shorten and the resultant movement of the roller 40 will cause the actuation of micro-switch or 81 to stop the apparatus.

As previously stated, the feed rolls 12, 13 and 16, 17, are relatively close together with the result that the amount of slack material between these sets of rolls is also relatively small at all times. Since the rolls 12, 13 operate intermittently and the rolls 16, 17 continuously, the roller 40 and the free end of the arm 41 will continuously oscillate and indicate the changing length of loop 47. The lost motion device L, however, will act to cushion or resist the transfer of these oscillations to the transmission control 39 and thus prevent the variable speed transmission T from being unnecessarily shifted to a lower or higher speed ratio. The lost motion device, however, will not interfere with the normal intended operation of the control to compensate for, what may be termed, longer range variations in the amount of material advanced through the working station by the feed rolls 12, 13 and the amount passing through the feed rolls 16, 17. The amount of vertical movement of the roller 40 required to effect an adjustment of the speed of the transmission T can be varied by varying the resistance of the spring 64, 65 of the lost motion device L or the torque required to change the position of the control member 39 of the transmission.

From the foregoing description of the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be apparent that the objects heretofore enumerated and others have been accomplished, and that there ha been provided a new method of apparatus for producing metal articles from a continuous, relatively large, heavy coil of material located relatively close to the working station which preferably utilizes progressive dies, and through which station, material is fed by an intermittently operated feed mechanism and continuously operating feed mechanism located relatively close together, and wherein the speed of the continuous feed mechanism is a function of the role at which material is advanced through the working station by the intermittent feed mechanism.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the details of construction and combination and arrangements of parts shown, but that it may be otherwise embodied, and it is the intention to hereby cover all adaptations, modifications and uses of the invention and apparatus described which come within the practice of those skilled in the art to which the invention relates and the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a power actuated high speed feeding mechanism for intermittently feeding the leading end of a strip of sheet metal to a working station from a large heavy coil, first power actuated feeding mechanism adjacent to the working station, means for intermittently actuating said feeding mechanism to advance the leading end of the strip of sheet metal through the working station, second power actuated feeding mechanism adapted to continuously advance the strip of sheet material to said first feeding mechanism at the average speed at which the strip is advanced by said first feeding mechanism, power actuated means including an infinite variable speed transmission having an output shaft the speed of which is a function of the position of a movable control member, means for connecting said output shaft of said power actuated means to said second power actuated feeding mechanism for driving the latter, pivotable mounting means, a roller mounted on said pivotable mounting means and adapted to ride upon the strip of material extending between said first and second feed mechanisms and follow the oscillations thereof incident to the intermittent operation of said first feeding mechanism and incident to variations between the average feed rates of said feeding mechanisms, and at least one spiral spring interposed between said pivotable mounting means and said control member of said infinite variable speed transmission to move said control member onlv in accordance with variations between the average feed rates of said feed mechanisms.

2. In a power actuated feeding mechanism for continuously advancing a strip of metal from a large, heavy coil to means for intermittently advancing the leading end of said strip, which mechanism includes support means for said coil, a drive motor. an infinitely variable speed change transmission connecting said motor and said support means and adapting the latter to rotate said coil for continuously advancing said strip and creating a loop of strip material between said coil and said intermittently advancing means, a movable speed control element connected to said transmission, the rate of continuous advancement of said strip being a function of the position of said control element, a roller adapted to ride upon said strip of material advanced by said mechanism and adapted to indicate changes in the length of said loop of strip material, means including a lost motion connection for connecting said roller to said control element of said infinitely variable speed change transmission for moving said control element in accordance with predetermined changes in the length of said loop of strip material, and means for stopping said means for intermittently advancing the strip and said drive motor in response to said roller indicating a change in said length of said loop of strip material beyond predetermined limits.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,944,173 Eitzen Jan. 23, 1934 2,120,402 Glasner June 14, 1938 2,796,965 Lamoureux June 25, 1957 2,800,326 Berger July 23, 1957 2,816,758 Danly Dec. 17, 1957 2,861,802 Ranney Nov. 25, 1958 

